Engine starting apparatus



May 15, 1934. R. CHILTON 1,958,557

ENGINE STARTING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 30, 1929 3nventor (Ittornegs Patented May 15, 1934 r OFFICE I ENGINE STARTING APPARATUS Roland Chilton, Keyport, N. 3., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Eclipse MachineCompany, Elmira Heights, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application January 30,

1 Claim.

This invention relates to engine starting mechanism, and more particularly to manually.op erable means for cranking internal combustion engines.

5 It is an object of this invention to provide a starter mechanism of the above character which is small and light for powerful and ef- .ficient in operation.

Another object is to provide an engine starter in which the mechanism and the operator are protected from injury due to backfire of the en-- gine and which serves to frictionally arrest reverse rotation of the engine crankshaft.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent 115 to those skilled in this art from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which- Fig. 1 is a longitudinal mid-sectional view of the device;

as Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the clutch and a suitable closure member is formed to fit closely over said opening and is suitably attached to said casing as by means of cap screws 16. f

Casing 10 is provided with an ofiset portion 17 providing a bearing seat 19. A driving barrel member 20 is rotatably mounted within the extension 17 of casing 10, and projects outwardly through the opening of portion -17 and has a suitable universal connection with a cranking shaft 21 as by means of the slotted spherical head 22 on said shaft, and the pin 23 fixed transversely within the barrel and traversing the spherical head 22.

The outer portion of the barrel 20 is externally splined as indicated at-24, and a sleeve 25 (Fig. 3) provided with ratchet teeth 26 is splined upon said barrel to move freely longitudinally there-' of. A- ring member 2'7 h'aving opposing ratchet teeth 28 is seated against the outer end of the extension 17, and is suitably fixed thereto as by means of cap screws 29. A cap member 30 is adapted to seat against the ring 27, surrounding the ratchet teeth 28 and the ratchet member 25;

sleeve 45 as indicated at 52, and extends outward- 1929, Serial No. 336,308

and extending inwardly to form an outer bearing for. the barrel member 20, and a spring member 31 is adapted to seatagainst the inwardly extending portion of the cap 30 and bear against a shoulder on the ratchet sleeve 25 in order to yieldingly maintain the ratchet teeth in engagement with each other, said teeth being shown separated in Fig. 1 for clearness of illustration. I

A pinion shaft 32 is rotatably mounted within the extension 17, having a suitable hearing such as'the bushing 33 within the barrel member 20 at one end, and being provided near the other end. with a suitable antifriction hearing 34 mounted in the bearing seat '19. Friction clutch 7c disks 35 and 36 are splined respectively to the concentric portions of the pinion shaft 32 and the barrel 20, and are maintained in preset driving engagement by suitable means such as the spring washers 37 which seat against an inturned portion 38 of the driving barrel 20, and an adjusting ring 39 threaded within the inner end of said barrel.

A distance piece or sleeve 40 is preferably inserted within the extension 17' to maintain the bearing 34 on its seat, andregistering openings 41 and 42 may be'formed in said sleeve and extension respectively in order to give access to the nut 39 whereby the same may be adjusted, suitable closure means such as indicated at 43 being provided to exclude dirt and foreign substances from the parts within the casing.

.Casing 10 is provided-centrally thereof with a bearing sleeve 44 arranged substantially perpendicularly to the extension 17, and a sleeve 45 having a radial flange 46 is freely journaled therein. A bevel gear member 47 is mounted on the flange 46, being integrally formed therewith or suitably attached thereto as by means of rivets 48, and is provided with teeth 49 adapted to mesh with the teeth 50 on the pinion shaft 32, whereby rotation of the pinion shaft will be transmitted to the sleeve 45. A connecting element in the form of a clutch member 51 is splined within the 1y from the casing 10 where it is provided with clutch jaws 53 adapted for unidirectional engagement with the crankshaft or other member of the engine to be started.

A split elastic sleeve 54 (Fig. 2) is mounted upon a smooth portion of the clutch member 51, in frictional engagement therewith, and has an inclined slot 55,formed therein. A cylindrical stud 56 is mounted radially in an outer portion of the sleeve bearing 44, being fixed therein in is transmitted thereto.

any suitable manner as by means of a transverse pin 5'7, and has an inwardly extending flattened portion 58 adapted to extend within the inclined slot 55 of the spring sleeve 54. The inclination of the slot is such that rotation of the sleeve 54 with the clutch member 51 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed from the right in Fig. 1, will cause the sleeve 54 to be projected outwardly to the left and thus move the clutch member 51 into engagement with the engine member to be started. The clutch member 51 is provided with a central bore 59, and a stud 60 is suitably fixed at .the inner end thereof as by means of a set collar 61. The stud 60 extends through a central hearing 62 in the closure member 15, and a spring 63 is mounted upon theprojecting portion thereof, being confined thereon by suitable means such as the adjusting nut 64 so as to maintain the driving clutch member 5l normally in its retracted position.

In order to relieve the flange 46 and the bearing 44 from twisting straincaused by the reaction of the gears 47 and 50, and in order that proper meshing of said gears may be maintained under all conditions, an antifriction roller 65 is mounted to bear against the back of the gear member 4'7 opposite to the pinion 50. The roller 65 is adjustably mounted in any suitable manner as by means of a stud 66 threaded obliquely in the casing 10 and held in adjusted position as by ,means of the lock nut 67.

In operation, rotation of the pinion shaft 32 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed from below in Fig. 1, will cause counterclockwise rotation of the gear member 47 and the clutch member 51. The initial rotation of the clutch member 51 causes the sleeve 54 to slide outwardly on the stud 56, causing the clutch member 51 to be projected into engagement with the engine shaft whereby further rotation of the clutch member When the engine starts and overruns the clutch jaws 53, the clutch member 51 is returned to its retracted position due to the inclination of said clutch jaws and aided by the retracting spring 63.

If the engine should backfire for any reason while the clutch jaws 53 are in engagement with the engine shaft, the clutch member 51 will be rotatedin a reverse direction, and will reversely rotate thegear 47 and pinion 50. The barrel member 20, however, is prevented from reverse rotation by the engagement of the ratchet sleeve 25 with the fixed ratchet teeth 28, so that the clutch disks 35 and 36 are caused to slip on each other thus quickly stopping the reverse rotation of the engine, while protecting the cranking mechanism and the operator from injury there- It will be noted that the radial arrangement of the pinion shaft 32 permits the starter mechanism to occupy very little space, particularly in a longitudinal direction, and further, allows a wide variation in the angular position assumed by the cranking shaft 21, thus rendering the starter adaptable to different situations and relationships with respect to the fuselage and the engine mounting.

Although but one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, it is to be expressly understood that the illustrated embodiment is not exclusive, and various other embodiments will now present themselves to those skilled in the art, while changes may be made in the construction, arrangement and proportions of parts, and certain features used without other features, without departing from the spirit of the invention. Reference is therefore to be had to the claim hereto appended for a definition of the limits of the invention.

What is claimed is:

In a device of the class described, a member to be driven, a centrally and transversely apertured support having a series of ratchet teeth disposed about the centrally apertured portion thereof, a sleeve rotatable within said support, said sleeve terminating in a flange provided with ratchetteeth corresponding to those on said sup-. port, means engaging said flange and tending to hold said sleeve teeth in mesh with those of said support, but yieldable to enable ,said sleeve to rotate in one direction only, a driving sleeve splined within said first named sleeve, a friction connection between said driving sleeve and driven member whereby the latter may rotate in a reverse direction while the ratchet teeth prevent such reverse rotation of the driving sleeve, and a nut threadedly engaging said driving sleeve to fix the torque transmitting capacity of said friction connection, said nut being adjustable through the transversely apertured portion of said support after assembly of all the parts above recited.

ROLAND CHILTON. 

